Toy.



H. T. LOGAN TOY.

APPLICATION FILED NOV- 1, 1913.

W 7 1b 1 m WU v A w. M I m A m 0 5 M A 1 COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co.,WASHINGTON, D. c.

HUMPHREY- THOMAS LOGAN, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, ASiSIGNOBr TO THE FIRM OFERNST PAUL LEHMANN, 0F BRANDENBURG-ON-THE-HAVEL,- GERMANY.

TOY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 1m, 1915.

Application filed November 1, 1913. Serial No. 798,677

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that LIIUMPHREY THOMAS LOGAN, a subject of the King ofEngland, residing at No. 5 Selwood Place, Onslow Gardens, London, S.England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Toys, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This inventionrelates to a toy and has particular reference to a methodof producing a skating or gliding movement.

According to this invention the skating or gliding movement is producedby means of wheel-casters attached to the supporting.

means of the toy, such as the feet of a toyfigure. These casters areprevented by means of stops from having more than a certain amount ofmovement about their vertical aXes. If, therefore, lateral force beapplied to a caster, the resultant movement will be in a forwarddirection, dependent upon the angle atwhioh its deflection aboutitsvertical axis has been stopped. Consequently, then, by a combinationof two or more of such casters attached to the sup ports of the toy,such as the feet of a doll or toy-figure, the legs of which aremade tospread apart and approach each other alternately, the feathering actionof the casters will produce a forward or backward movement of the toy,as the case may be.

It is to be vunderstood, that the actual form" of the casters and themethod of stopping their angular movement about their vertical axes maybe varied to suit convenience without departing from the spirit of thisinvention.

In carrying my invention into practice, I prefer to construct a doll ortoy-figure and attach casters to the feet of said figure. Mechanism,such as a spring-barrel and driving-gear is'carried in the body of thefigure, and by means-of said driving-gear the legs of the figure arecaused. alternately to spread apart laterally and approach each other,thereby causing the casters to be deflected alternately to one side andthe other of the central line of the foot to which the caster isattached. This movement of the caster about its vertical aXis is limitedby a stop, which may preferably be formed by a downwardly bentedge. ofthe skate. I

. In order to make my invention perfectly alternately movetheconnecting-rods 0, (Z up and down, thereby alternately movingcomprehensible, I have illustrated the same in the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Figure 1 isafront-elevation, and Fig. 2 a side-elevation of' atoy-skater, the body-portionbeing'shown broken away to disclose themechanism located inside. In Fig. 1 the legs of the toy-figure are shownin their normal position, the legs, when in their sepafated position,being indicated by broken mes.

The mechanism employed to impart to the feet of the figure analternately spreadlng and approaching movement, may Vary, as theparticular construction of such driving mechanismis not essential to theobject to be attained. In the construction illustrated in the drawings,as an example, a spring-barrel a is located in the body-portion of thefigure. The spring-barrel is adapted to impart rotary motion, through atrain of wheels, to a crankshaft b, on the crank of which two connectingrods 0, d, are mounted, the lower ends of which, respectively, engagethe bent portion of rods 6, f, which form the'journals of the legs 9, h,of the figure, the said legs being rigidly mounted on or formed integralwith said rods 6, f. It will be seen, that the crankportion of the shaftZ2, while turning, will thelegs g, h, laterally and retracting the same.

Attached to a plate 2' below each foot of the toy-figure, there arecasters, the wheels m of which are adapted to turn on axle-pins p,carried by the yoke 70. The yoke 70, itself, is adapted to turn on avertical pin 72. riveted to the foot-plate 2'. The lateral edges 0 ofthe foot-plate i are bent downward to limit the deflections of the yokeis to either side. In practice the angular movement of the yoke shouldnot exceed 90.

It will be easily understood, that, as the legs 9, h, of the toy-figureare separated or moved toward each other, the yokes 73 will be deflectedfrom their central or normal position, owing to the frictionalresistance of the supporting surface. The wheels m carried by the yokesis, on being swept along in the movement of deflection, will be turnedsistance of the supporting surface, and

owing to the rotary movement of said Wheels m, the toy will ,move on ina forward direction. As long as the angular movements of the yokes 7c ofthe left and right feet of the figure are of equal extent, the forwardmovement of the figure will be in a straight line, because the steeringeffect of the wheels on the left foot is counteracted by that of thewheels on the right foot, the resultant line of movement being anintermediate straight line. In practice, however, the resistance offeredby the supporting surface to the angular movement of the yoke to eitherside will not be exactly the same, and owing to such irregularities inresistance the steering effect of the caster-Wheels on the right andleft feet may vary and thereby the line of movement may becomeirregular. Such unforeseen irregularities in the motion of the toy Will,however, only serve to render the play more amusing, as it will appearas if the toy-figure had a will of its own, and

that the irregular movements were due to volition on the part of thetoy-figure. In

some cases it may even be found preferable to provide means forintentionally causing irregularities inthe motion of the traveling toy.Such-means, for instance, could be obtained by causing the yokes 7oof'one foot to have a limit of angular movement different from that ofthe yokes of the other foot, or

I one leg might be made to have a smaller lateral movement than theother leg, the movement of one leg mi ht even be reduced to such anextent as to make the leg stationary.

In the example illustrated by the drawings, each foot of the toy-figureis supported by two casters. One of these, however, might be foundsufficient to obtain the results hereinbefore described, the othercaster Copies of this patent may be o btailcd for serving as anadditionalv support for maintaining the upright position of the toy. Afurthermeans of creating'anirre'gular direction of motion of the toymight consist in securing the skates below the feetof the figure in anoblique positionwith relation to the central line of each foot.Bylocating the vertical pivot n ofeach caster at the rear of the casterinstead of at the front thereof,

run backward insteadof in a forward direcrocating movements ofthesupports and,

stops for limiting the angular position of said yokes.

2. In a toy, the combination, with the means for supporting the body ofthe toy, of a spring-barrel carried by the" toy, a train of wheels fortransmitting motion from the spring-barrel to a crankshaft,connectingrods mounted on said crank-shaft forcausing the'said supportsto move away from and toward each other, yokes pivoted to the saidsupports, *casters carried ;by said yokes and means forlimiting theangle of deflection of said casters. 7 V r In testimony whereof I aflixmy signature in presence of twowitnesses.

HUMPHREY THOMAS LOGAN.

Witnesses: 1 O. J. WORTH, I W E. ROGERS.

five cents each, by addressing'the Commissioner of Patents. Washington,D. 0. V

